Although this film is listed by many sources as the last effort of Andrea Bianchi, actually it was his penultimate work, shot in 1991, but only released in 1995. Between the shooting and the release, Bianchi did the equally obscure "Formula 3 - I Ragazzi Dell'Autodromo" (1993), after which he retired.
For many people, my interest in Bianchi's filmography may sound weird, after all the man never enjoyed the same cult status as a Fulci, a Lenzi, or even a D'Amato. But there is somenthing in him that attracts me. Perhaps, is the fact he made one of my favorite zombie gore fests, the masterpiece "La Notte Del Terrore" (1980). Or because he also directed the insanely delightful "Malabimba" (1979). The fact is that I can't be indifferent to any film directed by Andrew White (his English alias). And this means that I have to endure a lot of terrible things.
And here we came to this"Bambola Di Carne", quite a charmful title for a very weak product. It was shot in Prague, and judging by the name of the executive producers it was a co-production between Italy and Czech Republic. There is no mention to a scriptwriter in the opening credits (I wonder why?), but it is said that the film was based on a novel by Oscar Wilde!!!!! Well, I never read any of his writings (and I probably never will do), but considering his notorious reputation, it is hard to believe in any similarity between what is seen here and a Wilde work. The script of this movie is terrible. It is something like a soap opera spiced up with long (and boring) erotic segments.
The "story" is about a lady called Jenny (the unknown Pilar Orive, who resembles a poor version of Janine Reynaud) who is about to marry a widow old man, who has a daughter (the also unknown Sonia Franco), who will not accept her father's new bride. Pure soap opera, right? The widow sends his bride together with his daughter to supevise the restauration of a castle, and the evil daughter (stupidly called Lolette) will take the occasion to make Jenny's life a hell. It wouldn't be that bad if we were treated to some evil plans by our Lolette, but being an erotic production, the bulk of the running time is devoted to badly staged scenes of nudity and sex. To make things worse, none of the ladies (in my opinion) is particularly gorgeous, with Lolette owning breasts so small that wouldn't require the use of a bra.
There is a scene with Jenny, Lolette and a horse that is beyond ridiculous. The intent was sounding controversial, but I really doubt one can really be shocked with such a stupid situation. Sonia Franco does her best to look sensually wicked (and her face is interesting), but what could she do with a script devoid of any substance? There is no space for character development or coherence. Little is left to a plot in a genre that demands constant flesh exposition, and if one is not interested in the sex material, the tedium is inevitable. Not even the music, composed by Nico Fidenco (under the alias of Donimak) manages to be interesting.
Andrea Bianchi proved to be an interesting filmmaker in the the horror genre, and in the 70s he was efficient helming some sex comedies too, but during the 80s, he was lost in the world of hardcore pornography, occasionally returning to legitimate cinema with some softcore dramas and a couple of horrors. But, is "Bambola Di Carne" his worst legit film? Oh, no. Just before this, he directed something much worse, the almost unwatchable "Una Donna Da Guardare" (1990).
